Happy kids (mostly)

Continuing our tradition of not posting anything negative, here are some pictures of the kids in happy times the last few days. Maggie and Stella took time off from crying for this shot.

Will clung to Patrick's leg this morning and begged him not to go to work. After that he went outside in his pjs with Patti to pick our first cucumber. Look how tall everything else got since Mother's Day.

That same cucumber never saw Will coming...

ps: Check out the firefly videos!

Star Wars night

Patrick and Will had their first "guys night" tonight - Star Wars night at the Bowie Baysox stadium. They're the AA affiliate for the Baltimore Orioles. Patrick and Will threw on their best Star Wars shirts, gave Mom a smile, and promised to be on their best behavior at the stadium.

Minor league baseball is AWESOME. Star Wars is AWESOME. Together, life is good. Fans came in costume, the food, beer and overall atmosphere was great, and the quality of ball was...well...AA.

Will wanted so badly to see R2D2, but he got so scared when we got a chance to go say hi. Will whispered hi from a distance and he refused to let me put him down. He eventually patted him on his dome and his operator gave Will a little raspberry tweet and head spin. Will was in heaven, and still holding on to me for dear life...

The stadium is really nice and the atmosphere in general was really fan- and family-oriented. I'm guessing we'll be bringing the clan here instead of the big leagues once we need to start buying seats for the girls.

Will thought he was such a big boy putting his cup in the cup holder like Daddy. He was really tickled.

Father's Day and baths

Will and the girls gave Daddy a good Father's Day, complete with hugs, smiles and laughs. Maggie and Stella gave him lots of screams and fussing too, but one out of three this year ain't bad. Plus, Will started saying Maggie's name (until Sunday she'd only been "moo moo").

Will capped off the night with a quick hardhat session.

On Monday, Maggie and Stella had their first big girl baths (without the newborn sling). They grow up so fast! Here's Maggie.

Stella too! Stella says "check out our new videos on the left!"

A day out with Pop

Will and Pop went to the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore today - it's hard to tell who had more fun. It was Will's first day out just with Pop (as Will would say, "no mom mom, no dada, no Stella, no Moo Moo, no Mimi").

Will rode on the kiddie train and then he and Pop got to ride in a real coach.

Like most days this week, Will didn't go outside without his backpack.

Will's tricycle

Mimi and Pop bought Will a classic Radio Flyer tricycle today. We're not experts but it looks like he likes it A LOT. Check out this smile!

Pop showed Will how to mount the tricycle and after 2-3 tries, Will was doing it correctly every time. He really likes the idea of pedaling but he hasn't got the hang of it yet.

Patrick got to use his power tools to make some wooden pedals for over Will's pedals. Will's legs are just a fraction of an inch too short for the time being.

After dinner, Will and Dad donned their helmets and Will practiced some more. Will kept telling Patrick to get his bike but we're pretty sure that wouldn't have worked out well for anyone so we stuck with the tricycle.

Changes

The Carey kids are growing and changing. Maggie and Stella have become more and more aware of each other this week. They're getting better every day at tracking movement, responding to voices, and looking at each other.

They can both roll partway over and they can hold themselves up for a few seconds (but not always the same few seconds)...

On Sunday, Patrick converted Will's bed to a toddler bed. They talked about it earlier in the week and then Will woke up a few times talking about "dada this go away, Will climb up, jump down." When Patrick brought the new piece down to Will's room today, Will was so excited. Five minutes after it was installed, Will asked for the old one back.

The good news is that he laid right down for bed and he's sleeping like an angel in bed now. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning when he can get out...

Awareness

We know what you were thinking. No postings since Patrick was home alone with the kids. Well rest assured that all is fine!

Stella and Maggie are more and more aware of each other, and of the rest of the goings on in the house. They respond to Patrick, Patti and Will's voices and their eyes and heads track everyone else passing by them. They check each other out after feedings and they have begun to smile at each other and at Will (Patrick is still convinced that they are telepathic and smiling at each other's mental comments).

Patti is getting better at taking self-portraits. Check out these two winning pictures. The girls think they're pretty fantastic.

And here is Will. He wanted to bring some of his toys in his backpack when he went out with Mimi and Pop yesterday. He ended up wearing it every time he went outside.

ps: That smile says "I'm getting away from the girls. Hooray!"

Solo

Tonight was Patti's second night back at work, but Patrick's first night completely alone with Will, Maggie and Stella. Patrick is too burnt out to offer anything witty at this point so here's some pictures.

We went for a walk. Will likes the front seat now that we can carry either one of the girls in the Bjorn.

Here's proof for Patti in case she checks this at work that the girls are fine. Not sure why Maggie (left) looks so shocked. This was right after their first feeding when Patrick fed each of them independently because Stella was sort of napping.

One bottle for everyone.

Here are the girls during the second feeding when they were very much awake and very much hungry at the same time. Patrick will definitely be looking into other ways to feed them at the same time because this didn't work well for anyone...

Here's today's update on Will's pole beans. They've really grown since they were planted on Sunday and Will get pretty fired up when he sees how they've grown.

How does our garden grow?

Last year on Mother's Day, Patrick and Bill made Patti a raised bed garden behind our patio. This year, Bonnie and Patti have maximized the space. They've planted tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, peppers, zucchinis, and plenty of herbs. Between the rains of two weeks ago and the crazy hot sun lately, everything took off.

Will LOVES helping with the garden, especially watering. There's still a lot of water on his feet, but more and more of it finds its way into the garden every day. Will even helped Patti plant the radishes that he's watering below and the pole beans in the very last picture. He waters them with pride and the first sprouts appeared today. Keep checking in for bean (and Will) updates.